Rape of Girl on Rooftop Leaves Residents Scared, Not Surprised

By PATRICK HEALY and COLIN MOYNIHAN

Published: August 16, 2004

From its broken front door to the stairwell leading to its desolate, trash-strewn roof, there was already enough about the Wise Towers housing project on the Upper West Side to keep its residents fearful and on edge. A woman on the 11th floor had been tied up and killed four years ago. Strangers roamed the halls. Doors blew open and shut in the wind.

Then on Friday night, a 14-year-old girl was dragged up to the roof of the 22-story apartment complex, where she was robbed, raped and beaten, the police said.

Officers said they had no suspects, but they posted sketches yesterday that described the girl's attacker as a black man, 17 to 20 years old, just over 6 feet tall and about 185 pounds, with his hair worn in cornrows.

The girl had just left her family's apartment around 8:30 p.m. Friday when she was dragged up to the roof at knifepoint, the police said. The attacker also stole her jewelry before he fled.

The crime unnerved residents, who said that they do not feel safe in the building, at West 92nd Street and Columbus Avenue. Residents said the front door to the building was often propped open or broken and the door to the roof was unlocked.

''The whole building is a problem,'' said a resident, Jay Walton, 49.

Listra Carr, 54, who lives on the 22nd floor, said she was jarred by the continual noise of people climbing onto the roof and of the roof door banging open and shut in the wind. Ms. Carr said she feared the people who go up to the roof, and carried a penknife when she left her apartment.

''I'm scared and very fearful,'' she said yesterday. ''I feel leery up here. I have to peep out when I go to the hall to throw out my trash. When I'm waiting for the elevator I look from side to side.''

Ronald Curiel, 21, another resident of the building, said the roof was a popular spot for residents and strangers to meet and have sex. Because of his family's wariness about the building's safety, Mr. Curiel said, his 14-year-old sister is not allowed to ride the elevator alone at night.

''I hear about these guys who try to grab young girls,'' he said.

Officials from the New York City Housing Authority, which runs the complex, could not be reached for comment last night.

Photo: The police released this sketch of a suspect in the rape of a girl, 14.